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Introduction:
A vehicle tracking system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle’s location. Most modern vehicle tracking systems use Global Positioning System (GPS) modules for accurate location of the vehicle. Many systems also combine a communications component such as cellular or satellite transmitters to communicate the vehicle’s location to a remote user. Vehicle information can be viewed on electronic maps via the Internet or specialized software.
Current vehicle tracking systems have their roots in the shipping industry. Corporations with large fleets of vehicles required some sort of system to determine where each vehicle was at any given time. Vehicle tracking systems can now also be found in consumers vehicles as a theft prevention and retrieval device. Police can follow the signal emitted by the tracking system to locate a stolen vehicle.
Many vehicle tracking systems are now using or a form of automatic vehicle location (AVL) to allow for easy location of the vehicle. The GPS satellite system was built and is maintained by government and is available at no cost to civilians. This makes this technology very inexpensive. Other AVL systems do not require the antenna to be in direct line of sight with the sky. Terrestrial based systems such as LORAN and LoJack tracking units use radio frequency (RF) transmitters which will transmit through walls, garages, or buildings. Many police cruisers around the world have a form of AVL tracking as standard equipment in their vehicles.

Block Diagram

GPS UNIT:
The GPS unit continuously sends the co-ordinates to the µc kit. These co-ordinates are received and stored in µc memory.

GRAPHICAL LCD:
The received co-ordinates are shown on the graphical LCD. Also the name of place that matches with the database is displayed on LCD.

SERIAL MEMORY AND MATRIX KB:
The matrix kb is used to store the GPS coordinates as well as the name of place in the serial memory. The I2C bus based serial eeprom is used to store these co-ordinates in memory.

MICROCONTROLLER UNIT:
The µC unit receives these coordinates and compares it with the co-ordinates stored in serial memory. If both match, the corresponding name is displayed on the LCD.

System Overview:
The Vehicle Tracking System would involve the following components:
The Position coordinates sent by the GPS device will be logged by the µC at periodic intervals. After processing the NMEA data, the data will be uploaded to the server via the GPRS/Internet Connection. The program resident on the server will process the data and map the position on a digital map. The digital map view can be accessed through and other PC’s using the HTTP Protocol, thus giving real time positioning of the vehicle.

Applications:
The applications of a Vehicle Tracking System include:
*) Fleet control. For example, a delivery or taxi company may put such a tracker in every of its vehicles, thus allowing the staff to know if a vehicle is on time or late, or is doing its assigned route. The same applies for armored trucks transporting valuable goods, as it allows pinpointing the exact site of a possible robbery.
*) Stolen vehicle searching. Owners of expensive cars can put a tracker in it, and “activate” them in case of theft. “Activate” means that a command is issued to the tracker, via SMS or otherwise, and it will start acting as a fleet control device, allowing the user to know where the thieves are.
*) Animal control. When put on a wildlife animal (e.g. in a collar), it allows scientists to study its activities and migration patterns. Implant transmitters are used to mark the location where pregnant females give birth. Animal tracking collars may also be put on domestic animals, to locate them in case they get lost.
*) Race control. In some sports, such as gliding, participants are required to have a tracker with them. This allows, among other applications, for race officials to know if the participants are cheating taking unexpected shortcuts or how far apart they are. This use has been featured in the movie “Rat Race”, where some millionaires see the position of the racers in a wall map.
*) Espionage/surveillance. When put on a person, or on his personal vehicle, it allows the person monitoring the tracking to know his/her habits. This application is used by private investigators, and also by some parents to track their children.

Specification of Project:
Microcontroller: ARM7 LPC 2138
WE ARE CHOOSING THE µC FOR FOLLOWING REASONS:
CHEAP, EASILY AVAILABLE
PROGRAMMER AVAILABLE
PLENTY GIUADANCE AVAILABLE
HIGH LEVEL OF COMPUTING POSSIBLE

7 Comments

I have got three questions:
1)Is it possible for the device to display the location to the user in the car along with display to the base station.
2)Can the device be modified to make it act as an navigation system as well.
3) Can the device use GPS as well as GLONASS
Thank you

Hi Swanand,
Below are the answers to your questions:
1) Yes, it is possible. Device can display the location of the user inside the car.
2) Yes, this device be modified to act as an navigation system.
3) No, for the current project you have to use the GPS device. We can not replace GPS by GLONASS.